Henry Codman Potter (sometimes II or Jr.; November 13, 1904 – August 31, 1977) was an American theatrical producer and director as well as film director.

Biography

H.C. Potter was born in New York City, the grandson of the Right Rev.

Henry Codman Potter Henry Codman Potter (May 25, 1834 – July 21, 1908) was a bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States. He was the seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Potter was "more praised and appreciated, perhaps, than any public man ...

, Episcopal bishop of New York, and great-grandson of Alonzo Potter. He attended St. Marks School and graduated from Yale University in 1926, where he was a member of the Yale Dramatic Association and

Scroll and Key The Scroll and Key Society is a Collegiate secret societies in North America, secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest Collegiate secret societies in North America#Yale University, Ya ...

. He attended the Yale School of Drama in the era of George Pierce Baker, and with George Haight founded the Hampton Players, one of the early summer theaters in America, based in Southampton, Long Island from 1927 to 1933. With Haight as producer, he directed numerous Broadway productions, then moved to Hollywood, where he directed over 20 feature films, earning a reputation as a specialist in "gag" comedy. The films he directed include ''

Beloved Enemy ''Beloved Enemy'' is a 1936 American drama film directed by H.C. Potter and starring Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, and David Niven. It was loosely based on the life of Michael Collins. Plot During the Irish War of Independence in 1921, Irish ...

'' (1936), '' Wings Over Honolulu'' (1937), '' Romance in the Dark'', '' The Cowboy and the Lady'', and ''

The Shopworn Angel ''The Shopworn Angel'' is a 1938 American drama film directed by H. C. Potter and starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Walter Pidgeon. The MGM release featured the second screen pairing of Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart followi ...

'' (1938), ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (also simply known as ''Tom Sawyer'') is a novel by Mark Twain published on June 9, 1876, about a boy, Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1830s-1840s in the town of St. Petersbu ...

'' (1938), '' The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle'' and ''

Blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

'' (1939), '' Congo Maisie'' and ''

Second Chorus ''Second Chorus'' is a 1940 Hollywood musical film, musical comedy film starring Paulette Goddard and Fred Astaire and featuring Artie Shaw, Burgess Meredith and Charles Butterworth (actor), Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie H ...

'' (1940), '' Hellzapoppin''' (1941), '' Victory Through Air Power'' (documentary) and '' Mr. Lucky'' (1943), '' The Farmer's Daughter'' and '' A Likely Story'' (1947), '' You Gotta Stay Happy'', ''

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House ''Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House'' is a 1948 American comedy film directed by H. C. Potter, and starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas. Written and produced by the team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, it was an adaptation o ...

'' and ''

The Time of Your Life ''The Time of Your Life'' is a 1939 five-act play by American playwright William Saroyan. The play is the first drama to win both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The play opened on Broadway in 1939. C ...

'' (1948), '' The Miniver Story'' (1950), '' Three for the Show'' (1955) and '' Top Secret Affair'' (1957). An avid private pilot, he served during World War II as superintendent of operations at Falcon Field near Phoenix, Arizona, training

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

pilots, and later as captain in the Air Transport Command, ferrying cargo in small planes to military bases throughout California. His postwar film career was impeded by a contract with

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

, then controlled and virtually brought to a halt by the eccentric policies of its owner

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

. In 1958, he retired from film work and moved to New York City, where he opened a stage production office with Richard Meyers, and pursued his hobby of training Labrador retrievers for field trials. On February 8, 1960, H.C. Potter's name was placed in the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

. His star is located at 6633 Hollywood Blvd. Retirement afforded Potter the opportunity to indulge his passion for writing scholarly monographs about

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

for ''

The Baker Street Journal ''The Baker Street Journal'' is a quarterly journal devoted to Sherlockiana published by The Baker Street Irregulars. Leslie S. Klinger has called it "the leading publication" in the study of Sherlock Holmes. History After the formation of T ...

''. In 1971 he was awarded membership in

The Baker Street Irregulars The Baker Street Irregulars is an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley. As of 2015, the nonprofit organization had about 300 members worldwide. The group has published ''The Baker Street Journal,'' ...

, the New York-based organization that keeps green the memory of Sherlock Holmes. Potter was granted the investiture "The Final Problem". In addition, Potter twice won the Morley-Montgomery Award, one of the highest distinctions given by the BSI, for his articles "Reflections on Canonical Vehicles and Something of the Horse" (1971) and '"John H. Watson, Word Painter" (1976). Potter married Lucilla Annie Wylie in 1926. Their three sons were Daniel J. Potter, M.D., Robert A. Potter, Ph.D., and Earl Wylie Potter, Esq. H.C. Potter died in Southampton, New York on August 31, 1977.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1936) * ''

'' (1938) * ''

'' (1939) * '' The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle'' (1939) * ''

'' (1940) * '' Hellzapoppin'' (1941) * '' Victory Through Air Power'' (1943) * '' Mr. Lucky'' (1943) * '' The Farmer's Daughter'' (1947) * ''

'' (1948) * ''

'' (1948) * '' The Miniver Story'' (1950)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, H. C. 1904 births 1977 deaths American theatre directors American theatre managers and producers Film directors from New York City American comedy film directors David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople